FAMILY Bubonidae. 



infrequently that of a gray squirrel. Egg, white. This 

 Owl is resident throughout its range, which extends 

 from Labrador southward through eastern North Arm-p- 

 ica. His preferred home is the forest. 



Certainly this " tiger " bird can not be included among 

 the song birds, but as certainly we can not throw out 

 his hoot from musical calculation. Mr. Cheney writes : 

 " One winter, after six weeks of cold, perhaps the sever- 

 est in fifteen years, the weather moderated, and the 3d 

 of March was a comparatively mild day. An Owl felt 

 the change, and in his gladness sent down ponderous 

 vesper notes from the mountain, which, as they came 

 booming across the valley, bore joy to all that heard 

 them. . . . The Owl did not change the weather, 

 the weather changed the Owl." So much for sentiment 

 in the hoot of an Owl 1 The usual syllables of the hoots 

 are Whoo, hoo-hoo, Whoo, hoo-hoo-hoo, and the effect 

 is like that of a bass whistle belonging to a Sound 

 steamer when it is heard at a distance, although the tone 

 is not so deep. There is a drop of at least a fourth to the 



Whoo, hoo-hoof Whoo, hoo-hoo -hoof 



two shorter last syllables. Mr. Cheney's record is almost 

 identical with this ; the difference is trifling, as he says : 

 " The first of these tones was preceded by a grace note, 

 the second was followed by a threadlike slide down a 

 fourth, and at the close of the third was a similar descent 

 of an octave. Neither slide, however, ended in a firm 

 tone." This exactly describes the nature of the tones, 

 and it is unnecessary to say more, except that few writers 

 have given us any record of the scream, of the creature. 



When that note comes one will think he hears the 

 ' crack o' doom." If the Screech Owl's note is weird, 



